“Now, mamma, there is something else.  I have become acquainted with a young Jew who interests me greatly.  He is gentlemanly, refined, educated, very intelligent and devout, studying the Hebrew Scriptures constantly, and looking for a Saviour yet to come.

“I have felt so sorry for him that I could not refrain from talking to him of Jesus of Nazareth, and trying to convince him that He was and is the true Messiah.”

Elsie looked deeply interested.  “And what was the result of your efforts?” she asked.

“I have not succeeded in convincing him yet, mamma, but I think I have raised doubts in his mind.  I have called his attention to the prophecies in his own Hebrew Scriptures in regard to both the character of the Messiah and the time of His appearing, and shown him how exactly they were all fulfilled in our Saviour.  I think he cannot help seeing that it is so, yet tries hard to shut his eyes to the truth.

“He tells me he believes Jesus was a good man and a great prophet, but not the Messiah; only a human creature.  To that I answer, ’He claimed to be God, saying, “I and My Father are One;” “Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was I am;” and allowed himself to be worshipped as God; therefore either He was God or He was a wretched impostor, not even a good man.’

“But, mamma, I have been asked by another, a professed Christian, ’Why do you trouble yourself about the belief of a devout Jew? he is not seeking salvation by works, but by faith; then is he not safe, even though he looks for a Saviour yet to come?’ How should you answer that question, mamma?”

“With the eleventh and twelfth verses of the fourth chapter of Acts:  ’This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.  Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.’

“That name is the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified One.  He is the only Saviour.  We speak—­the Bible speaks of being saved by faith, but faith is only the hand with which we lay hold on Christ.

“‘A Saviour yet to come?’ There is none; and will faith in a myth save the soul?  No; nor in any other than Him who is the Door, the Way, the Truth, the Life.

“‘He is mighty to save,’ and He alone; He Himself said, ’No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.’

“And is it not for the very sin of rejecting their true Messiah, killing Him and imprecating His blood upon them and on their children, that they have been scattered among the nations and have become a hissing and a byword to all people?”

“True, mamma, and yet are they not still God’s own chosen people?  Are there not promises of their future restoration?”

“Yes, many, in both the Old Testament and the New.  Zechariah tells us, ’They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born;’ and Paul speaks of a time when the veil that is upon their hearts shall be taken away, and it shall turn to the Lord.